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LAX89LA145

1989-04-01 · HEMET, California, United States · None · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport HMT

N82756 has since been reassigned. It is now registered to a different aircraft (ZIPLINE INTERNATIONAL INC P2 ZIP), which was not involved in this event.

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

INADEQUATE CREW COORDINATION BETWEEN THE GROUND LINEMAN AND THE BLANIK PILOT, AND FAILURE OF THE BLANIK PILOT TO MAINTAIN CLEARANCE BETWEEN HIS AIRCRAFT AND THE PARKED GLIDER. A FACTOR RELATED TO THE ACCIDENT WAS THE PROXIMITY OF THE PARKED GLIDER TO THE RUNWAY.

Factual narrative

THE RGT WING OF BLANIK L-13, N82756, HIT THE LEFT WING OF ANOTHER GLIDER (LS-1), WHICH WAS PARKED NEAR THE RGT EDGE OF THE RWY, AS THE BLANIK WAS STARTING TO BE LAUNCHED BEHIND A TOW PLANE. ACCORDING TO THE WING WALKER, HE HAD HOOKED THE TOW ROPE TO THE BLANIK & WAS LIFTING THE (RGT) WING, WHEN HE REALIZED THE LS-1 WAS TOO CLOSE TO THE RWY. HE SAID HE PUT THE WING DOWN & SHOUTED FOR A RELEASE AS HE HAD BEEN TAUGHT, BUT THE BLANIK PLT FANNED THE RUDDER TO SIGNAL THE TOW PLT FOR THE LAUNCH TO BEGIN. ACCORDING TO THE BLANIK PLT, THE WING WALKER HAD RAISED THE WING (A SIGNAL TO BGN THE LAUNCH), THEN TRIED TO STOP THE LAUNCH, BUT DID NOT USE THE PROPER 'CUT' SIGNAL. SUBSEQUENTLY, THE LAUNCH BEGAN & THE BLANIK VEERED SLIGHTLY RGT & HIT THE LS-1 BEFORE THE BLANIK PLT RELEASED THE TOW ROPE. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1989_LAX89LA145.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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